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Officials in north China tackle plague with poison
BEIJING, Nov 26, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Chinese officials have sprayed almost 200
acres of land with poison as part of a rat and flea eradication campaign
after a case of bubonic plague was reported in a northern region.
The Ulanqab government in central Inner Mongolia said it carried the
spraying last week, while another local authority posted images of cadres
dressed in white scrubs and face masks and said they dispatched planes to
spray poison as part of “rat- and flea-extermination work”.
The plague germ Yersinia pestis can be transmitted to humans from infected
rats via fleas and the reported case has spurred efforts across the region to
kill pests.
Earlier this month two patients from the same region were diagnosed with
the highly-contagious pneumonic strain of the plague and moved to Beijing for
treatment.
The pneumonic strain an prove fatal in 24 to 72 hours and is the “most
virulent form” of the disease according to the World Health Organisation
(WHO), while the bubonic form is less dangerous.
“We will do our best to prevent and control, block and annihilate, and
take strict precautions against the outbreak and spread of the epidemic,”
said the Xianghuang Banner government.
Meanwhile, those who have had “close contact” with the three plague
patients have undergone quarantine and medical observation, according to the
Beijing and Inner Mongolia health commissions.
Currently, the two patients in Beijing are “critically ill”, said the
Beijing Municipal Health Commission last week, while the third person, who is
being treated in Ulanqab, is in “stable” condition.
Though the highly-contagious plague is rare in China, several cases have
proven deadly in the past few years.
According to China’s National Health Commission, a total of five people
have died from the plague between 2014 and September of this year.
In 2014, a man died of the plague in northwestern Gansu province and
sparked the quarantine of 151 people.
The 30,000 people living in Yumen, the town where the man died, were also
prevented from leaving, with police at roadblocks placed on the town
perimeter.
In neighbouring Mongolia, a couple died of the bubonic plague in May after
they ate raw marmot meat, another carrier of the plague germ.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1842 hrs